Jeremy Corbyn has committed to retaining all of the
benefits of the single market while negotiating a deal on the
free movement of people.

However, a senior official in the European Commission
told Business Insider that Labour's plan to leave the single
market but retain all its benefits is "cakeism" and would be
rejected in negotiations.

"If you want it in a nutshell, the single market isn't
divisible," the source said.

A group of Labour MPs have urged Jeremy Corbyn to back
an amendment to the Brexit bill which seeks to keep Britain in
the EEA, where member countries adhere to free
movement.

Allies of Labour's Brexit spokesperson, Sir Keir
Starmer, reject suggestions that the free movement of people is
non-negotiable.

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LONDON - Senior European Union figures have rubbished the Labour
Party's Brexit policy of maintaining all the benefits of the
single market, while restricting the free movement of people, as
unworkable "cakeism" that would not be accepted by the EU.

Labour is committed to negotiating a new single market deal with
greater flexibility on free movement than that enjoyed by
countries such as Norway.

However senior EU officials have rejected this, telling Business
Insider that the four freedoms associated with single market
membership are indivisible

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Last week, the Labour leadership tabled an amendment to the
Withdrawal Bill which detailed its policy of a new single market
relationship with the EU, based on "full access" and "no new
impediments to trade."

"We are confident we can build a new relationship with the EU. We
want the UK to have a better deal than the Norway model," the
Labour leader to the House of Commons last week.

The party has rejected an amendment to the Brexit bill, set to be
voted on by MPs today, which would seek to keep Britain in the
EEA.

Labour's Brexit team believes its willingness to accept all
EU regulations and standards would persuade Brussels to be
flexible on issues such as free movement.

This was reiterated by an ally of the Shadow Brexit Secretary
Keir Starmer, who told BI: "In France and Germany, they are
talking about the free movement of people. Standards are much
more important to the EU than immigration."

A source close to the Labour frontbench reiterated this position
on Tuesday, telling BI: "We accept there is a negotiation to be
had but we also accept that this is an issue where there if
fluidity within the member states."

However, a senior European Commission official involved in Brexit
negotiations told BI that while Labour's policy has a better
"starting point" than the UK government's, its goals amount to
cherry-picking and would be rejected.

caption

Sir Keir Starmer.

source

Leon Neal/Getty Images

"The starting point is not a bad one in that amendment. It's one
of alignment rather than divergence. It also proposes some form
of customs union. That's much better. That's all good," the
Commission official said.

"But the problem is, the single market is a legal order, so you
can't pick and choose from it. It's like every other proposal
we've had. We've been here before."

They added: "Labour's proposal frontloads the idea of possible
divergence and frontloads the idea of not wholly accepting the
four freedoms, specifically the free movement of people. It looks
like exceptionalism."

"If you want it in a nutshell, the single market isn't
divisible."

The source said that although Labour's Brexit policy hadn't been
the subject of formal discussions in the commission, senior EU
figures had been privately talking about it with one another.

"The only positions which are discussed in a formal sense are the
ones of the UK government and the European Union expressed
through [Michel] Barnier. But obviously, people here have been
talking about this," they said.

"I was talking to Barnier's team about this and they said 'well,
it's better but it's still cake-ism. Starting from the same point
allows some room for tweaking, but these things have to comply."

A source close to the European Parliament's Brexit taskforce was
blunter in their assessment of Labour's single market policy,
telling BI: "It's crystal clear what the EU's position has been.
Labour are as bad as the Tories, selling a unicorn to paste over
their internal decisions."

"Labour are as bad as the Tories, selling a unicorn to paste over
their internal decisions"

A Labour MEP in Brussels offered their own criticism of the
policy. "It reinforces the mad 'cake and eat it' approach that is
the figment of imagination that exists only in Westminster and
not elsewhere in the EU," they said.

A source close to Starmer told BI that the single market
amendment was designed to "set out the principles of what we want
a future single market deal to look like" and to act as a
"starting point" in negotiations.

"We believe it opens the door for a far more constructive
negotiation because, unlike the Government, we're accepting the
need for shared institutions, common regulatory standards, no new
impediments to trade," they added.

The European Commission is yet to respond to our request for
comment.

source

REUTERS/Olivier Hoslet/Pool

Labour MPs set to rebel on EEA

MPs will on Wednesday vote on an amendment to the Brexit bill
that could keep force THeresa May to change course and stay in
the European Economic Area.

The Labour leadership are set to abstain on the vote. However,
news that senior EU figures view Labour's single market policy as
unworkable will likely fuel calls from pro-EU Labour MPs for
their colleagues to rebel against Corbyn and vote for the EEA
amendment later today.

Former Shadow Cabinet ministers Owen Smith and Chuka Umunna, plus
MPs including Stephen Kinnock, Alison McGovern and Wes Streeting
have all called on Corbyn to embrace the Norway option.

At least 60 Labour MPs are preparing to join other opposition MPs
and a handful of Conservative rebels by voting for the EEA
amendment today, BI has been told. However, this will not be off
to inflict a defeat on the government.